


Ties That Bind—Snippets/Behind the Scenes

by IMtheDevil



Series: Ties That Bind [1]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - All In (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Alligator (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Beautiful (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Destroyer (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Dramarama (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Fighter (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Jealousy (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Rush (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Shine Forever (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Shoot Out (Music Video), Alternate Universe - Trespass (Music Video), Apocalypse, Dubious Morality, Gen, Minor Character Death, Music Video Theory, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Seven Deadly Sins, Supernatural Elements, Theory but it’s also fiction, what is my life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-08-20 17:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20231629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IMtheDevil/pseuds/IMtheDevil
Summary: Little previews/snippets for the over-arcing theory fiction. These scenes may or may not appear in the final story.





	1. Untitled

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of the Alligator MV teaser.

Ignoring the no trespassing signs that were dotted along the abandoned metro station walls, Jooheon made his way deeper into the underground. He never fully understood Changkyun’s obsession with being down here, especially after what happened with that thing they nicknamed “Destroyer.”

He laughed mirthlessly as he swung his legs over the deteriorating ticket gate. Kihyun’s madman scribbles and conspiracy theories still decorated the hall, miraculously undisturbed by the entity that had chased them. Yarn pulled taut by push pins connected alternate realities to each other, outlining the times they had caused too much wrong and failed to atone. Jooheon dragged his bat along the concrete wall underneath Kihyun’s work. That wouldn’t happen this time, not if he had anything to say about it.

Jooheon rapped a knuckle against the door frame. Changkyun glanced up at him, his eyes peering out over those wire rimmed glasses he was so fond of.

“Almost done.” Changkyun faced the computer again and finished pounding out the last few lines of code.

“Think it’ll work?” Jooheon shifted his weight to the other foot, baseball bat resting on one shoulder.

“When has it not?” Changkyun snapped the laptop shut and stashed it under a pile of unassuming trash—paper burger wrappers and empty cigarette boxes.

He stood to follow Jooheon, slipping into a leopard print jacket. Once above ground, Changkyun let out a low whistle.

“Really, Honey? That’s what you picked?”

Changkyun continued to stare slack-jawed at the huge off-road vehicle, even more taken aback by the alligator print paint job. So much for inconspicuous. Jooheon chuckled.

“Come on, it won’t bite,” he smirked.

“No, but I will if you don’t wipe that look off of your face.” Changkyun moved to the passenger-side door, only to jump back and retract his hand when the window rolled down.

“Hello handsome.” Minhyuk’s long fingers shot out, grasping Changkyun’s chin and tilting his head back. “Get our solution handled?”

Changkyun swatted at Minhyuk’s grip. “No thanks to you. It was all Kihyun and me. Maybe a side of Hyungwon.”

“I heard that.” Hyungwon called out from the back. He didn’t look up from the contraption in his lap. It was odd—covered with several clock faces that all ticked along at varying rates and times. Hyungwon was twisting the cogs within this way and that, in a manner that mesmerized Changkyun.

“Come on, man. We have an apocalypse to stop.” Jooheon called out over the hood as he swung himself up into the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, the one that we started.” Hyunwoo muttered.

“I say that we just let it happen. Be rid of this world once and for all.” Unsurprised and irritated looks were shot Hoseok’s direction. “What? I agreed to help, but my opinion won’t change.”

Changkyun shook his head in disbelief as he climbed into the back. They couldn’t fail this time. Especially when they knew it was their last chance.


	2. X=4155102M

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you wondered where Kihyun was during the last snippet.....

The pads of Kihyun’s fingers trailed along the lines carved into the wall. A shard of glass snagged at his skin and he winced, pressing the injured fingertip to his lips to ease the sting. He stepped back to take in more of the room as the harsh fluorescent lights flickered on. The shapes he had been tracing were not shapes at all—they were letters and numbers that jostled and vied for his attention. Intricate formulas twined about each other, all resulting in the same value for X: 4155102M.

“The number at the end is the number at the start.”

He voiced the words aloud, though the vibrations landed on his ears alone. Kihyun clenched his fists, ignoring the protesting throb of his finger, and grinned. He had the answer, now he just had to...had to what? He felt as if someone, or something, was waiting on him.

Kihyun’s hands shot to his temples as the screeching sound of metal against metal scraped the walls of his mind. He saw flashes of an underground area and an entity he recognized from the fear that sunk into his bones...the Destroyer? As soon as the vision came it vanished. The piercing frequency rendered him thoughtless—a pure beam of white razed any hint of coherency he might have had.

The onslaught ceased as abruptly as it begun. The room went dark.

The pads of Kihyun’s fingers trailed along the lines carved into the wall. A shard of glass snagged at his skin and he winced, pressing the injured fingertip to his lips to ease the sting. He stepped back to take in more of the room as the harsh fluorescent lights flickered on...

~~~

“How long has he been stuck in that loop?”

Hyungwon lifted his gaze from the security feed to meet Shownu’s.

“As long as he has existed.”

Shownu grimaced. He was in no mood for Hyungwon’s dramatics. He was here for one thing and one thing only—securing Kihyun’s knowledge and ensuring he would not snap at the others again. They needed his wealth of information, just not the murderous intent.

“Think you can get him back?” Shownu did his best to quell the bite of irritation in his tone.

“Who do you think you’re talking to? Of course I can. I can’t promise that he’ll be entirely the same Kihyun we all know and love.”

“I don’t care—just do what you have to do.”


	3. Frayed at the Edges

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set somewhere between the Beautiful and Shine Forever MVs.

Jooheon was done.

He had spent himself to the point that there was no more blood, no more sweat, no more tears left to give. Even if he wanted to.

For the record, he didn’t want to.

Jooheon had already been a hairbreadth away from leaving and letting them deal with their confinement on their own. He did take a step back, yet still gave them the devices they needed and let them work out the rest. He shouldn’t have to be there to hold their hands.

In this reality, they figured it out with minimal guidance. It should have been getting easier, winding their way amidst time’s forward march, avoiding the divergence at the end. Yet apprehension weighed Jooheon’s limbs as the pivotal obstacle loomed ahead.

He had relinquished his all, only for his sacrifices to almost be undone by Minhyuk’s reckless mistake. Kihyun could have died. They wouldn’t have had their revival tool; the remainder of their delphinium stock from the last lifetime disappeared when Shownu overcame his vice.

Hyungwon stepped up with a possible solution when Jooheon didn’t. Miraculously, and to Jooheon’s incredulity, it worked.

If hell or high water finally came to swallow them whole, he wouldn’t be there to save them. It was someone else’s turn.

Jooheon was done.


	4. Consequences of Time Travel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consequences of Dramarama/Destroyer MVs. There is character death in this story. Technically is and is not major character death. Ah, the joys of time travel~

The object hooked onto his waistband weighed on his soul more than on his body. Though, he was adjusting his slacks from time to time. He should have worn a belt, but that wasn’t the first thing on Hyungwon’s mind.

Shooting himself. Should be fun.

The long walk to the café left Hyungwon to his thoughts. The clan had given him an ultimatum—either pull the trigger, or one of them would do it for him. He snapped, asserting that the only one with the right to end his life would be himself.

Hyungwon was still wrapping his mind around it. An alternate him was roving about—mostly the same, but with slight variance now as it had been some time since their paths had split. Like twins that had travelled separate roads from birth. They were no longer the same, despite their identical appearance and biology.

He was determined to be the one left standing—after all, he was the one the clan had found. Rescuing him from the loop had repercussions they never could have imagined, but those consequences were all his fault. Thus, the burden fell to him to kill the Other.

Hyungwon perched on a bench, his head just able to surveil over the hood of a car parked in front of him. The Other had frequented their favorite café, the Traveler, ever since the split. Either out of habit, or nostalgia, or what, Hyungwon couldn’t surmise. If it were him, it would be because he wouldn’t allow himself to hide. He was above that. Hyungwon considered it for a second. Well, technically it was him, so that explained the Other’s decision not to keep his head down.

A bell tinkled, and Hyungwon’s eyes shot up. There he was, striding confidently out of the Traveler as if he was entirely unaware of the target on his chest. He walked a measured pace, one that Hyungwon could easily follow. He paused for a moment, and then turned down an alleyway. Hyungwon frowned. This was a deviation from what the clan had reported on his habits.

Hyungwon rose from the bench to trail him, adrenaline driving him forward and drowning out his apprehension. His heart thudded along as he took quick strides to catch up. Almost jogging around the corned, he skidded to a stop when he realized that the Other was standing still, his back to the road and to Hyungwon.

“I was wondering when you would muster the courage to do it. Or rather, when I would muster the courage.” The Other didn’t turn when he spoke.

Hyungwon watched his back, the slow, steady breathing of the Other, of himself, unsettling him more than if the Other had been panicked.

“I won’t run. I won’t fight you. We’ve done enough, it would be worse with the two of us still running amok. You and I both know it.”

Hyungwon’s breath caught, amazed at himself—at the Other—for being so resigned to his fate.

“Do it now, or I will.” The Other’s voice hardened, leaving no room for choice.

The sound exploded in the alleyway, reverberating through Hyungwon’s heart as it shook his bones. He flung the object away, unconcerned about fingerprints. After all, they would match the ones of the figure that lay inert on the ground.


	5. Trapped

Shownu pummels his hands against the glass until it fractures beneath his fists. He feels a warmth sliding down his forearms and smells copper in the air. 

Pacing, he howls.

The padded walls soak up the sound.

He tears his fingers through his hair, yanking the strands from his scalp.

Shownu wants out.

Maybe it’s better that he’s contained.

Contained behind the padding and the glass and the bars and the barbed wire and the guards and the dogs.

The world kept from him. Or rather, him kept from the world.

No contact other than the hands that slide him food.

The voices that bark at him to stop. Or to sleep. Or to eat.

None shout at him now.

Is he free? Or is he alone, left behind and forgotten?

Either way, Shownu remains.

Trapped in a prison of his own making.

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: @monmaddie  
MBB Amino: I.M the Devil


End file.
